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Friday, 27 March 2015

The Crimean War’s North Pacific Theatre: Petropavlovsk August 1854

The most common image of the Crimean War (1854 – 56) is of
Britain’s Light Brigade charging to death and glory against Russian guns at
Balaclava. Almost equally well known are the epics of the ”Thin Red Line” and
of the Storming of the Redan, both in the Crimea itself. The more nautically-
minded may think of the enormous and costly expedition to the Baltic that
earned such scanty returns. Few have however heard of the most remote operation
of the war, the Anglo-French assault on Petropavlovsk, Russia’s Northern
Pacific port on the Kamchatka peninsula.

Petropavlovsk - where is it? Many thanks to Google Earth for help finding it!

Even for Russians the word “Kamchatka” signified the back of
beyond, difficult to near impossibility to reach by land from European Russia.
The Trans-Siberian railway had not yet been thought of and would not to be
completed for another five decades and the only realistic way of supplying the
settlements there was by sea. Kamchatka is a vast peninsula – almost 100,000
square miles – and contains some 160 volcanoes, 29 of them active today – and
it is all but cut off from the rest of Siberia by the Sea of Okhotsk. In 1854 Russian presence there was scarcely a
century old and the town of Petropavlovsk, founded by the navigator Vitus
Bering (of “Strait” fame) in 1740, was important not only as an ice-free port
but as a transit point for contact with Russian Alaska. Russia’s interest in
Alaska was however never more than lukewarm and its potential was never
recognised. It was to be sold to the United States at a knock-down price some
thirteen years later.

Petropavlovsk is situated on what a Victorian writer
described as “one of the noblest bays in
the whole world—glorious Avatcha Bay”. By 1854 the city possessed an almost
landlocked harbour, with a sand-spit protecting it from all fear of gales or
sudden squalls. The shelter it offered, and its freedom form winter ice, made it
an ideal maritime base, and in more recent times has been used as such by the
Soviet and Russian Federation Pacific Fleets.

Petropavlovsk in 1856 - at the war's end.

When Britain, France and Piedmont went to war with Russia in
1854 the main theatres of war were to be the Crimea and the Baltic, both
offering access by sea. Destruction of the Crimean naval base at Sevastopol and
of the Russian fortifications in the Aland Islands, were seen as strategically
significant and desirable. It is however impossible to understand how an
expedition against Petropavlovsk could ever have been imagined to have any
significant impact on the war. Even if held, the occupying force had nowhere
else to go and the only Russians inconvenienced would be the two or three
thousand engaged in trading in Alaska. Despite this it was decided that a
not-inconsiderable Anglo-French force should be sent against Petropavlovsk.
This consisted of six vessels, the Royal
Navy’s HMS President(Frigate, 38
guns), HMS Virago (paddle sloop, 6
guns), and HMS Pique (frigate, 36 guns),
plus the French La Fort (frigate, 60
guns), Eurydice (corvette, 32-guns),
and Obligado (sloop, 32 guns). As
only Virago was steam driven the force was in effect little different from one
that might have set to sea in the Napoleonic Wars four decades only. The
British commander, the 64-year old Rear-Admiral David Price was himself a
veteran of that latter period, having been just promoted after 39 years as a post
captain. The French force was under a Rear-Admiral
Auguste Febvrier-Despointes and, as always in allied operations, the potential
for miscommunication and confusion was significant. On paper the Allied force carried
some 200 guns, though as almost entirely consisting of broadside ships only
half this number could be brought to bear at any one time.

HMS Virago - the only steam ship in the Allied force(with acknowledgement to the Australian War Memorial)

The Anglo-French force entered Avatcha Bay on August 28th
1854 (by the Western calendar) and the less wind-dependent Virago was sent to reconnoitre. The town – little more than a
village – was protected from the outer bay by a long narrow peninsula on the
west, and a sand bank on the east. Vessels passing between these entered the
inner harbour and the passage could be closed by a chain. Protective batteries
had been located as shown by superimpositions on the contemporary Russian map
below – a 5 gun battery at the tip of the peninsula (Battery No.1), an 11 gun
battery on the sand bank opposite (Battery No.2) and a 3 gun battery further
back along the peninsula (Battery No.3). The total Russian force present
amounted to 920 men, seamen as well as soldiers, plus two ships of the Russian
Pacific Fleet (indeed almost the entire fleet!), the 44-gun frigate Aurora and the transport Dvina. These were moored inside of the sandpit and effectively
protected by Battery No.2, which they supplemented with their own landed guns.

Contemporary Russian Map, with annotations to identify batteries etc.

Virago’s
reconnaissance complete, the allied force advanced to bombard the town on
August 31st. Proceedings were opened by Rear-Admiral Price going below and shooting
himself – whether deliberately or by accident, is unknown – leaving British
command to devolve to Captain Nicholson of HMS Pique. The bombardment was
suspended but on September 4th the force returned, Virago in the lead, followed by La Fort, President and Pique which were to concentrate fire on
Battery No.1 while Eurydice and Obligado
took on Battery No.3.

HMS Pique - one of the last sailing frigates, obsolescent when built in 1836

The bombardment proved successful and both batteries were
silenced (an unusual occurrence when ships were pitted against shore batteries
– indeed Nelson himself had warned that “A
ship’s a fool to fight a fort”). Engaging Battery No2 on the sand spit
closing off the inner harbour was however a more difficult proposition since
insufficient room was available to being all the Allied ships’ guns to bear on
it. Taking the town therefore meant landing men. It was however shut in by high
hills on almost all sides and the only vulnerable point was in the south,
outside the harbour, where a small
valley opened out on land bordering the bay (see old Russian map above).

Petropavlovsk under bombardment - a contemporary impression

A landing party of some 680 British and French seamen and
marines was hurriedly assembled and sent on shore in boats. The landing was unopposed and the Anglo-French
force thrust inland in a straggling, ill-coordinated manner. The ground ahead,
rising towards a ridge, was littered with scattered bushes and trees, behind which
Cossack sharpshooters had been positioned. They opened a withering fire and picked off
nearly every Allied officer. The men, not seeing their enemy and having lost
their leaders, fell back in panic-stricken disorder. Many had lost their
orientation in the brush and a series of small, vicious combats followed, some
of the landed force being most likely shot accidently by their own side. A
number fled up a hill at the rear of the town and were hunted down mercilessly
by the Cossacks while others died by falling over the steep cliff on one side
of the hill. The guns of La Fort, Virago and Obligado covered the main retreat to the boats, but it was clearly
a major defeat. The butcher’s bill was 107 British and 101 French dead or
wounded out of the 680 landed. The Russians lost half these numbers and held the
field. Allied defeat was total.

There was nothing to be done by the Allies but to withdraw, smarting.
The winter made the prospect of further action unattractive but a return in
force was soon being planned for the following year. Unknown to allies they
Russians had decided – wisely – that Petropavlovsk was of little value to
themselves, and a potential liability for the Allies, should they take it. Accordingly,
in early 1855, the Russian garrison was evacuated.

The Allies were meanwhile assembling a more massive force,
with ships assigned to it from the China station. The new commander, Rear
Admiral Bruce, organised supplies in Hawaii and a huge supply depot and
hospital was organised at Esquimalt, near Vancouver to provide further support.
On May 30th 1855 the combined Anglo-French flotilla arrived back at
Petropavlovsk in thick fog and took up positions in anticipation of an attack.
When they fog cleared two days later reconnaissance revealed the town as
deserted. Bruce’s force occupied it without a shot being fired. It was to hold the
city until the war came to an end in 1856.

Russian cannon of Battery No.3 looking out over the Bay of Avatcha today

The repulse of the Allies at Petropavlovsk was the only
Russian success on any front in the Crimean War and as such is remembered better
there than in the West. At a tactical level the operation had more in common with
the Napoleonic period – sailing vessels, broadside muzzle-loading artillery,
improvised landings – than with the era then dawning. The ironclad would arrive
within a decade and, fast in its wake, breech-loaders, torpedoes, efficient
steam power and ever-improving armour. At a strategic level the operation, whether
a tactical success or failure, could only represent a dead-end squandering of
lives and resources.

For Britain and France Petropavlovsk was an embarrassment.
And that is, perhaps, why we have heard so little of it since.

2 comments:

Still, it's nice to hear of the British and the French teaming up. What a boondoggle, yet it was the beginning of the battle for control of the Pacific? I learn so much from your posts, Antoine. Have you written or are you working on any nonfiction books?

Dear Linda: I've been toying with idea of non-fiction, perhaps an anthology of my articles etc. but I'm desperate for time. I've four separate strands going in my life (so much for "retirement"!) and I need another 6 hours in the day! Best Wishes: Antoine

About Me

My "Dawlish Chronicles" are set in the late 19th Century and reflect my deep interest in the politics, attitudes and technology of the period. The fifth novel in the series, “Britannia’s Amazon” is now available in both paperback and Kindle formats. It follows the four earlier Dawlish Chronicles, "Britannia's Wolf", "Britannia's Reach”, "Britannia's Shark" and "Britannia's Spartan". Click on the book covers below to learn more or to purchase.
I’ve had an adventurous career in the international energy industry and am proud of having worked in every continent except Antarctica. History is a driving passion in my life and I have travelled widely to visit sites of historical significance, many insights gained in this way being reflected in my writing. I welcome contact on Facebook and via this Blog. My website is www.dawlishchronicles.com and its “Conflict” section has a large number of articles on topics from the mid-18th Century to the early 20th Century.